


If I Had But Just One Kiss

by justpastsaturn



Category: Rune Factory 4
Genre: M/M, Pre-Relationship, Secret Admirer, amber illuminata and leon are quite the team of detectives, not a braincell among them
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-09
Updated: 2021-02-09
Packaged: 2021-03-15 01:02:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,478
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29305425
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/justpastsaturn/pseuds/justpastsaturn
Summary: Leon wakes to a love note in front of his door. Intent on finding out who left it, he enlists the help of Selphia's greatest detective and her trusty sidekick to solve the mystery.T rating for some off-color jokes.
Relationships: Leon/Vishnal (Rune Factory)
Comments: 6
Kudos: 10





	If I Had But Just One Kiss

When Leon woke that morning, he was very confused by the note sitting just outside of his door. The paper was white, crisp, sealed inside an off-white envelope with swirling letters on the front spelling out his name. Leon wiped the sleep from his eyes and broke the seal on the envelope, pulling out the letter. He couldn’t imagine what it was about. Who sent letters in this town? 

_ Dearest Leon, _

_ I can’t deny my feelings for you any more. You’re the most beautiful man I’ve ever laid eyes on, and I wish for nothing more than to be with you. Please don’t think me a coward, but I can’t hope to tell you to your face. Just know that I love you more than I love the way the sun rises. _

_ Sincerely,  _

_ Your Secret Admirer.  _

Leon read it again, then again, then he flipped over the note, checking to see if there was anything on the back, then read it again.

“Did you get mail, Leon?” Xiao Pai asked, startling Leon out of this confused thoughts. He stood just outside his room, the hall of the inn quiet in the early morning. Fingerprints of light filtered in through the windows and Leon could smell rain on the air through them.

He crunched the note in his hands, flashing a smile and pocketing it. “Oh, just a love letter.”

Xiao sighed. “You shouldn’t tease about things like that. You may never get a love letter from bad luck.”

Leon suppressed a laugh. “Alright, true enough.”

He turned, heading towards the stairs.

“Are you not having breakfast?” Xiao asked. 

“No,” Leon said. “I have a mystery on my hands.”

“A mystery?”

“Yes. And I know who just to go to.”

Although they weren’t unfriendly towards one another, Leon didn’t make a habit of going to Illuminata’s shop. He liked her well enough, but truth be told, her level of energy clashed with his own. Besides, she had a habit of taking him too seriously. Despite this, he knew where to go if he wanted to get to the bottom of this.

The shop smelled horribly floral, with just a bit of the earthiness of topsoil. It threatened a headache behind Leon’s eyes. As he entered, Amber turned, flashing a bright smile in his direction.

“Good morning!” she called, putting down her watering can. “How can I help you today?”

Leon blinked slow. He wished he’d gotten more sleep. “I was wondering if Illuminata was around?”

“She’s still asleep, I think,” Amber said. “Why?”

“I have a case for her—”

“A case?” came Illuminata’s voice from upstairs. “Who’s got a case?”

She came down the stairs in a rumbling gait, half in her pajamas, her toothbrush hanging out of her mouth and her hair in disarray. “Leon? You have a case?”

“Only for people who are fully dressed,” Leon said with a smirk. 

Illuminata looked down at herself. “Oh. Two seconds.”

She ran back upstairs. Within a few minutes, she was back, fully dressed, braining her hair behind her. “Okay, I’m dressed. What’s this about a case?”

Leon sighed and extracted the crumpled letter from his pocket. “I have a Mystery Writer.”

Illuminata took the letter, Amber hovering just beside her to read over her shoulder. 

“A secret admirer?”

“It seems so.”

“Aww, how sweet!” Amber cried. 

“If you say so,” Leon said. “Honestly, I get admiring me, but why afar? I’m not unapproachable.”

Illuminata and Amber pulled a face.

“What?”

“You’re a little—” Amber started.

“Well it’s just—” Illuminata tried.

“What?”

“You just have a tendency to not take anything seriously,” Illuminata said. “If I had feelings for you, I’d definitely keep them to myself.”

Leon narrowed his eyes at her. “You didn’t—”

“It’s not me!” Illuminata said. “Amber either!”

“Yeah,” Amber added.

“Then who?” Leon sighed. 

“That’s what we’re going to find out,” Illuminata said, straightening her hat. “The game is afoot. Are we ready to solve the Case of the Secret Admirer?” She put her hand out in front of her.

“Yes!” said Amber, putting her hand on Illuminata’s.

They looked expectantly at Leon.

He sighed, putting his hand on theirs. “Alright. Go team.”

“Go team!” Amber said, taking to the air. 

Leon shook his head, a smile playing at his lips. At the very least, this wouldn’t be boring.

Leon and Amber sat on the floor of the flower shop, in front of the large board Illuminata was drawing on. They’d closed the shop for the day, leaving a large red “closed” sign on the door. Leon rested his cheek in his hand as Illuminata capped her marker.

“Okay, this is what we know,” she started. “Leon got the letter sometime after he went to bed, and before he awoke. So sometime between one am and six am.”

“You need more sleep, Leon,” Amber scolded. 

Leon nearly made a lewd joke, then remembered his audience. “Never mind. So what’s that tell us?”

“Whoever left you the note has to be an early riser. That cuts out a few candidates in Selphia: Clorica, Lest, Bado, Volkanon—”

“He was a suspect?”

“—Kiel and Doug.”

“Okay. So who’s that leave us with?”

“Well,” Illuminata said, adjusting her monocle. “After filtering for age, people who are in relationships, or Porcoline, that leaves us with: Arthur, Vishnal, Dolce, Meg, and Xiao Pai.”

“It’s not Xiao,” Leon said. “She had no idea about the letter this morning. I don’t think she can act that well.”

“Alright,” Illuminata said, crossing out Xiao Pai on her board. “Then that leaves us with Meg, Dolce, Arthur, and Vishnal.”

“I really think we can cross out Dolce too,” Leon went on. “She threatened to cut off a very important part of me the other day, and I don’t think she was joking.”

Meg put her hands on her hips. “Fine.” She crossed out Dolce. “Then just these three. Who should we start with?”

“You can’t seriously tell me you just plan on asking them.”

“No, we’ll be discreet,” Illuminata said with a smile. “Now, who first?”

Amber hovered, looking in through the window to Arthur’s study. “He’s going to lunch. We’re clear.”

“Good!” Illuminata said, pulling her hat down. “We have thirty minutes to search while he’s out.”

Leon leveled a look at her. “Do you have everyone’s schedule memorized?”

“Yep! Now, let’s go.”

They hunkered down to the ground as they snuck in. Leon thought it made them look more conspicuous than if they’d just walked in, but he didn’t feel like arguing with Amber and Illuminata about it. As the door closed behind them, they stood, slowly, looking around. 

Arthur’s study was cluttered, a mess that belied an order only the other man understood. It smelled of lavender incense and old books. Slowly, they wandered to his desk, Illuminata motioning to Amber to watch the door. 

“Here,” she said. “We’ll compare the color of the ink on the note to his ink well and see if it matches.”

“That’s surprisingly astute of you,” Leon said. 

“Thank you.”

Leon bit back any other teasing that may have passed through his lips. As he searched, he wondered. Would he be okay with Arthur sending him such a letter? Did he like Arthur like that? They were friendly enough, but he wasn’t sure he’d want to date him. Was it worth finding out just to turn him down? Regardless, he rummaged through the desk until he found the bottle of ink in one of the many drawers. Illuminata took it from his hands, dipping her own pen into it and drawing a line across a blank piece of paper. The ink was a dark black that went matte as it dried. 

Illuminata’s shoulders dropped. “Not it. This ink is black. The note’s is blue.”

“So not Arthur,” Leon concluded. “Alright, let’s get out before he gets ba—”

“What are you guys doing?” Arthur asked, standing in front of his desk.

“Amber!” Leon said. “You’re supposed to be watching the door!”

“Oh! Right!”

Leon stood. “Would you believe we got a sudden zest for trade?”

Arthur smiled beatifically. “No.”

“Well, there’s a simple explanation for this,” Illuminata said, nodding. “And as a detective, I’m sure I can get to the bottom of this.”

“You’re the one breaking into my desk. I’d hope you know what’s going on.”

Leon rolled his eyes and retrieved the note. “I got this this morning. We’re trying to find out who wrote it.”

“A love note?” Arthur said with a twitch to his lips. “And you thought it might be me?”

Leon shot a look at Illuminata. “You were one of many suspects.”

“Well, not to disappoint but,” Arthur said, handing the note back, “it’s not me.”

“We deduced that,” Illuminata said. She crossed the room and grabbed Amber, pulling her towards the door. “Now if you’ll excuse us…”

“Sorry we broke into your desk,” Leon said, placing a hand on Arthur’s shoulder. “It probably won’t happen again.”

Arthur adjusted his glasses as Leon beat a fast retreat. He laughed to himself. “Probably?”

They regrouped outside of the restaurant, kneeling into a huddle. Illuminata put a hand to her chin and looked to Leon. “Okay, that didn’t go exactly according to plan.”

“You think?”

“But I think we’ve got a shot with Meg. This time, we’re going to have to be sneaky.”

“What were we doing back there?”

Illuminata ignored him. “Leon, you go in and distract Meg. Amber, you keep Porco busy. I’ll go in and see if I can match the handwriting on the note to any of Meg’s music sheets.”

“Wouldn’t it make more sense to go to Meg’s house, since she’s not there?” Leon asked. 

“Breaking and entering?” Illuminata said with disgust in her voice. “We’re honest detectives!”

“Didn’t you break into Forte’s before?”

“Not the point. We’re doing this. Are you ready?”

Leon sighed. “As I’ll ever be.”

“Good!” Illuminata stood, and they stood with her. “We’ve got a plan, and now let’s do it!”

“Yeah!” Amber said. “This time I won’t let you down!”

“I feel so comforted,” Leon said. 

They entered the restaurant together, a fact Leon would’ve argued against if he hadn’t spent all day learning it was futile. Out of the corner of his eye, he watched as Amber went up to the counter and started chatting with Porcoline. Leon shook his head. He searched the restaurant for Meg and found her in the corner, tuning up her lute. He took in a deep breath, put on his most charming smile, and crossed the room to her.

“Good afternoon,” he said, sliding into a seat by her. 

Meg looked up from her lute. “Good afternoon.”

Leon faltered. He thought himself smooth, but he was realizing he had nothing to talk about. He hadn’t talked much with Meg since he’d woken up. She had a tendency to mother him, and he didn’t quite appreciate it. Would he want the note written by her? 

“You’re staring,” she said.

No, he thought. Probably not.

“Sorry, early morning,” he said, watching as Illuminata surreptitiously snuck behind Meg’s station by the counter. “I’ve been having trouble sleeping.”

“Oh, if you’re having trouble sleeping, you should try lavender tea,” Meg said. “Or chamomile tea. Oh, or have you tried meditating?”

Leon’s head was already starting to hurt. “I haven’t. How does that work?”

Meg opened her mouth to tell him, but Illuminata shot him a look, shook her head and gave him the thumbs down.

“On second thought,” Leon said, cutting Meg off, “I think I’ll just drink myself to sleep. Thank you anyway.”

He stood and quickly made his way out of the restaurant, Illuminata shortly behind him.

“Where’s Amber?” he asked.

“Porco gave her a smoothie. It’ll be a second,” Illuminata said. 

“But it’s not Meg?” 

“No,” Illuminata sat down on the ground. “The hand doesn’t match.”

“Which just leaves us with…”

Illuminata’s eyes flashed. “Vishnal.”

Leon nodded, holding out his hand for the note again. “Does this look like his handwriting?”

“I don’t know,” Illuminata said. “But we should find out before you confess anything to him.”

“Who said I’m confessing?” Leon asked, though his heart picked up tempo. He’d never thought of Vishnal like that before, but he couldn’t deny the prospect didn’t intrigue him. Vishnal was shy around him. When Leon had first woken, he thought Vishnal was always like that, but found out that it wasn’t the case. He’d assumed it was a difference in their personalities, nothing hiding beneath the surface. Now though…

“Alright. Let’s find out if it’s Vishnal.”

The castle was quiet. As they entered the butlers’ quarters, they found them to be empty. This time, Leon put Illuminata on door duty, and told Amber to help him find anything that Vishnal might have written on. She hooked her arm into a salute, and wandered off to look. Leon didn’t put much stock in her, but he didn’t think too hard on it.

He started on Volkanon’s desk, searching through the papers there, but found nothing that looked like it’d been written by anyone but the elder butler. Most of it was chore lists, house reports and such. Leon flipped through each one, wondering if Vishnal had so much as signed one of them.

As he searched, he realized he was sort of hoping to find something. The more he thought about it, the more he liked the idea. Vishnal was cute, dedicated. He was so much fun to tease, glowing a bright red anytime Leon’s attention was drawn to him. Leon stopped halfway through a document. Was Vishnal really in love with him? Should he have seen this before?

“Hey!” Amber called. “I found something!”

Leon closed the drawer sharply, standing on now static legs. He met Amber in Vishnal’s room—it felt odd to be in there—and looked down at what Amber had.

In her hands was a journal, leather bound and well-used. He took it from her and pulled out his note. Opening the journal, his eyes skimmed over the last words written in the journal:

_ It’s good he knows, even if I can’t tell him. _

Leon’s heart clenched. He hadn’t meant to read any of it. He checked the handwriting, though it seemed unnecessary at this point.

They matched.

He handed Amber the journal back. “Put that back where it belongs.”

“Did it match?”

“Sh,” Illuminata said. “Someone’s coming.”

Leon froze for only a moment before shooing Amber back to put away the journal. The door connecting the butler’s quarters to the rest of the castle opened slowly. Leon held his breath. He hoped it wasn’t Vishnal. He didn’t have his thoughts together yet. Didn’t know how he was going to respond.

Luckily, it wasn’t Vishnal. The door creaked open with Lest wandering in, his nose in a thick stack of papers.

“Hey Volkanon,” he said. “I have some questions about—what are you guys doing in here?” 

Illuminata opened and closed her mouth, looking much like a fish out of water, but Leon flashed a smile. “Us? Oh, we were just looking for Vishnal.”

“Oh,” Lest said. “I think he’s out to lunch right now. Can I pass on a message?”

Leon wanted to make a comment about Lest being a prince, not a messenger, but stopped short. “Yes, actually. Can you have him meet us by the lake, say around six tonight?”

Lest furrowed his eyebrows, but nodded. “Yeah, I’ll let him know.”

“Thank you,” he said, gathering Illuminata and Amber up and walking towards the door. “I really appreciate it.”

“Wait, so it did match?” Illuminata asked, turning back to her board. They were back at her shop, Amber back to watering the flowers wirth Leon sitting on the ground in front of the board. He’d scratched out the other names, and sat staring at the one without a strike through.

Vishnal.

“So what are you gonna do?” Amber asked, looking up from the pink cats that were starting to bloom. 

“I have some ideas,” Leon said. 

“Hold up,” Illuminata said. “You’re not gonna break his heart, right? ‘Cause that’s not what you paid us for.”

“Who said anything about paying you?”

“Leon,” Illuminata said, her tone desperate. “Please tell me you’re at least gonna let him down easy.”

“Who said anything about letting him down?” Leon asked, throwing up his hands. “I don’t know. I don’t know what I’m gonna do next. I just need to talk to him.”

He stood, walking towards the door. “Thank you,” he said behind his shoulder. “I think I gotta go this alone now.”

Illuminata opened her mouth to speak, but Leon was already gone through the door. His heart was hammering in his chest, and he wondered when his hands had gotten sweaty. 

This was ridiculous. Before today, he’d never looked at Vishnal like that. Never really looked at anyone in town like that. He had his own demons. His own things in his past that haunted him. Hadn’t looked up from his own past to look towards the future.

But now the future was in front of him and he had to make a decision. Did he want to be with Vishnal? Was it okay? Something clenched in his chest. 

He wanted to be with Vishnal. It was odd, now that the door was open, he wanted to run through it. But how? 

The question followed him to his room at the inn, and into the evening as the sun started to set. 

With the day turning to night, he walked to the lake.

The last remaining beams of the sun bounced off the lapping water of the lake, and Leon tried to calm his breathing. It was only a few minutes past six, and though he was sure Vishnal was usually the punctual type, it was dumb to expect him there at six on the dot. 

When finally he came around the turn in the trees, Leon’s breath fell short. Vishnal looked sheepish, nervous. Leon wanted to run to him, tell him he didn’t have to be ashamed. But he didn’t. He stood still, his hands in his pockets as Vishnal approached him, and the fireflies quietly woke and lit the night with their light. 

“You wanted to speak to me?” Vishnal asked. He looked over Leon’s shoulder. “Lest said Amber and Illuminata were with you?”

“Nope,” Leon said. “Just me.”

“Oh.”

“I was just wondering if there was anything you wanted to tell me?” Leon asked. 

Vishnal turned bright red. “I—I don’t think…”

“Something about this, maybe?” Leon asked again, pulling the note from his pocket. He wished it hadn’t gotten so crumpled. It almost matched Vishnal’s face as he laid eyes on it.

“Oh,” he said again. “That.”

“Yeah,” Leon said. “That.”

“I—” 

“Yes?”

“I’m sorry,” Vishnal said, fidgeting. “I should have never left that. I promise you don’t have to worry about me anymore. I’ll—I’ll leave you alone now.”

“I hope not,” Leon said, raising an eyebrow. “You know I spent all day trying to figure out who sent this?”

Vishnal ducked his head. “I’m sorry.”

“Stop apologizing.”

“I’m—”

“Please stop talking,” Leon said with a laugh. He reached out and pulled Vishnal forward. Vishnal looked confused, stunned, but he didn’t pull away. Leon wrapped an arm around his middle, looking deep into his eyes. 

“More than the sun rises, huh?”

Vishnal turned a deeper red.

“Poetic.”

Leon leaned forward, brushing his lips across Vishnal’s in the most chaste of kisses. Vishnal gasped. Leon smiled. 

“So cute,” he mumbled, and kissed Vishnal proper. 

Vishnal melted into him, kissing back slowly, matching tempo with Leon. Leon savored it. How long had it been since he’d kissed anyone? Far too long. And Vishnal was soft under his touch, pliant and warm. When they came apart, the reflection of the fireflies in Vishnal’s eyes looked like stars, and Leon’s breath caught in his throat.

“Does this mean…”

“It means,” Leon said, gathering his thoughts, “that I think we have a lot of time to figure this out. And I want to spend that time with you.”

Vishnal swallowed, hard. “I think I can live with that.”

Leon smiled, honey slow. “Good. I hope you weren’t planning on an early night. I don’t think I’m quite done kissing you yet.”

Vishnal laughed, looping his arms around Leon’s neck. “No, I think I’d prefer to stay here.”

“Good.”

The night went on around them, but they didn’t notice the way the stars shone or the way the fireflies danced around them. They were too caught up in each other, and only came apart for the night when they could no longer keep their eyes open. Leon pressed a kiss to his hand as they parted, promising of tomorrow.

He couldn’t promise forever, but he could promise tomorrow.

And hopefully the tomorrow after that.


End file.
